• Home

• / Categories
• / Home and Garden
• / Sustainable Living

How to Make a Pot in a Pot Refrigerator

edits by:Flickety, Krystle, Lillian May (see all)

Article
Edit Discuss View History

In a community without electricity, storage of food long-term can be tricky. One simple
solution is to build your own pot-in-a-pot fridge, using basic pots, sand and water. An
idea revived by Muhammed Bah Abba, this neat item is now being used by many farmers
in warm climates who need to preserve their food for a longer time and keep the insects
away. [1] Keeping the sand moist all the time enables evaporation to cool the produce kept
inside the inner pot.[1] This enables the storage of freshly grown vegetables to last much
longer than usual in a hot climate. Here is how to make your own.

edit Steps
1. 1

Obtain two large clay or terracotta pots. One pot must be smaller than the other
pot. Check that the smaller pot fits inside the larger and that there is a space
around it of at least one centimetre, up to three centimetres.

2.

Fill in any holes at the base of the pots. Use clay, large pebbles, cork, a
homemade paste - anything suitable to hand to fill the hole. If you leave the holes
open, the water will enter the inner pot and will also run out of the larger pot,
making the fridge ineffective.

3. 3

Fill the base of the larger pot with sand. Only fill to a height that will ensure the
smaller pot sits even in height with the larger pot.

4. 4
 Place the small clay pot. Place it into the large pot on top of the lower layer of
sand.

5. 5

Fill all around the small pot with sand. Fill it right to the top.

6. 6

Pour water into the sand. Do this until the sand is completely soaked and unable
to take any more water.

7. 7

Take a cloth or towel and dip it into water. Place it over the top of the inner pot
so that it covers it completely.

8. 8

Allow the inner pot to cool down. If you have a thermometer, you can use this,
otherwise test with your hands.

9. 9

Keep the pot-in-pot refrigerator in a dry, ventilated space for the water to
evaporate effectively towards the outside.[2]

10. 10

Place your vegetables inside for storage. You will need to keep checking
regularly for the dampness of the sand. Pour in more water as it becomes drier to
keep it well moistened. Usually this will need to be done twice a day. [3]

edit Tips
• The pot-in-pot refrigerator is also known by its Arabic term, a "Zeer" pot.
• Try different types of vegetables and fruit to see how long they last using the pot.
Natural Innovation notes that "Abba's project has brought about major changes for
many Nigerians: eggplants can last for 27 days rather than three, African spinach
can be kept for 12 days instead of spoiling after one day, while tomatoes and
peppers stay fresh for three weeks. Food hygiene standards and overall health are
improving."[1]
• It is also possible to store sorghum and millet grains this way - the pot-in-pot
refrigerator protects against humidity and stops fungi growth.[4]
• Meat can be kept for up to two weeks, as opposed to a few hours without this
device. [5]
 • Water and other liquids can be kept at 15ºC.[6]
• If selling the produce, place some of the produce for sale atop the damp cloth that
is sitting over the middle pot. This will keep the exposed produce a little cooler,
as well as letting people know what you have for sale.[7]

A similar use with just drinks kept cold

Drinks can be kept cool in a single pot with water at the base.

edit Warnings
• Evaporative cooling works most effectively in dry heat and this pot-in-pot
refrigerator is no different. In high humidity, you will find that this solution does
not work.[8]
• Do not use glazed earthenware; only unglazed.

edit Things You'll Need

• Two clay (terracotta) pots, one larger than the other
• Sand
• Water
• Cloth to cover the pots
• Clay, cork or other material to plug holes in the pots if they have them

Kanpur
A fridge in your backyard
Shivani Vig, TNN, Aug 31, 2009, 09.07pm IST
Article
KANPUR: For the residents of Rudapur village `thanda' has come to mean `Zero Energy
Cool Chambers'. Considering the need for a substitute to a refrigerator in rural areas,
especially when the power supply in the villages is erratic, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK)
of CSA University has demonstrated that the chambers -- a temporary storage structure --
can keep vegetables and milk products fresh for longer periods, without using any
electricity.

These zero energy cool chambers are based on the principle of evaporation and thus, they
maintain a low temperature inside even in hot weather. The initiative has been taken so
that garden produce, medicine and milk products can be stored as fresh for longer and
thus, farmers can improve their standard of living.

"It works like the conventional mud-pitcher. The chambers were constructed and it was
observed that even at a high temperature of 40-42 degrees Celsius, the milk stored in
these cool chambers was fresh up to 24-36 hours, while green vegetables like bottle
gourd, tomato, brinjal and chillies remained fresh for 24-40 hours," said Nimisha
Awasthi, a home scientist, who was actively involved in the implementation of this
technology at Daleep Nagar, KVK.

She explained further that not only does it retain low temperature, it works without
electricity and saves on the power and energy as well, and thus, the name zero energy
cool chambers.

"Due to high temperature in summers, the vegetables plucked in the evening used to lose
their freshness by morning and their skin used to get contracted due to evaporation.
Temperature measured inside the chamber in the hottest month of the year was found to
be between 25-30 degrees Celsius, which was 10-15 degrees Celsius lesser than the
outside temperature," added Awasthi.

Not only it maintains the freshness of the garden produce up to 24-60 hours, it is
economical also. First, not only it is easy to construct with a minimum expense of a mere
Rs 2,140, next, it is a cheaper option for keeping the perishable items cool and fresh, in
the absence of no electricity.

This means, even the milk and milk products like curd and cream can be preserved for
two days in hot temperatures.

After its demonstration in two houses of the Rudapur village, its results have encouraged
more than 20 village women to make use of this technology. And another advantage of
this temporary storage is that it can be used at large scale for storing more quantity of
perishable items.

The cooling effect

The zero energy cool chamber can be constructed on an elevated area in shade. Four
brick walls -- 5X3X2 ft -- are constructed initially. Then leaving a gap of 7.5 cm a
boundary of the same dimension is made, while the gap is filled with clean fine sand.
Either a hut-shaped shade can be prepared and kept cool by sprinkling water or the
chamber can be connected to a water drum through a perforated rubber pipe.

After three years, the chambers should be reconstructed with new materials.

Clean the chamber on regular basis and use insecticide as per the need.